Sharp County record., 1887-08-04

"a
fnitv now. Congregations are IuIL u
I-nowledge from books, from neWspd-
ners. from rapid and continuous lnV7I
communication, and long disqulsltlons o,
yvbar they know already Will noI Oe
abided IF a religious teacher can NOT
,or,rrass what h, wishes to say 10 JHe
raorle in the space or fOrty-hve mlnuUes'
hotter adjourn It to some other d"y'
The trouble is we preach audiences inIo
a Christian frame, an then we preacn
Them ont Of it, We forget that every au
di,or has so much capacity Of attention.
ond when that is exhausted he IS resJles5'
That accldent on the Long Island raii-
road some years ago came from the tact
tbat the brakes were out OF order ana
,vber thew wanted to stop the tram tney
corId mot stop. and hence the casualty
was terr fic. In all teHs-
ions discourse we want loco
native power and propulSio"'
We want. at the same time, stout brakes
to LET down at the right instant. IL IS
dismal thing. after hearer has comPFe-
bended the whole subject, to hear man
say:
Now to recapitulate," and "a few
words bv way Of application and "once
more" and 'hnally," aud now TO con-
cLude.n
PAM preached until midnight, ana
Futvchus GOT sound asleep and fell out OF
a window and broke his neck Some
would say:
g., hin, -
would rather be sympathetic ike Paul
and resuscitate him. That ACCIDENT IS
often quoted now in religious circles as
warning against somnolence in church'
It. is inst as much warning to minister's
AGAINST prolixitv. Eutychus was wrong
in his somnoleuce, but Paul made mis-
take when he kept on until midnight lie
ought to have stopped at eleven O'CLOCK
and there would have been no accident
if Paul might have gone on to too great
length, let all Of US who are now preach-
ing the Gospel remember that there IS
limit to religious discourse, or ought 10
be. and that in our time we have no apos-
tolic power of miracles
Napcleon IN an address Of seven min
utes thrilled his army and thrilled
EurOpe. Christ's sermon on the mount,
the model sermon, was less than eighteen
minu tes long at ordinary mode of de-
livery. It is not electricity scattered all
over the sky that strikes, but electricity
gathered in a thunderbolt and hurled, and
II is rot religious truth scattered over
spread out over vast reach Of time, but
religious truth projected IN compact
form that flashes light upon the soul and
rives its Indifference.
When the religious discourse Of the
future arrives in this LAM and in the
Christian Church, the discourse which IS
to arouse the world and startle the ma
tions and usher in the kingdom 1t viii
be a brief discourse. Hear it all, theo-
logical students: all We Just entering
upon religious work; all ye men and
women who, in Sabbath schools and other
DEPARTMENTS. are toiling for Christ and
the salvation Of immortals. Brevity
Brevityi
But | remark also that the religious dis
course Of the future, Of which l speak,
will be a popular discourse. There are
those in these times who speak Of pop
ular sermon as though th're must be
something wrong about II. As these
critics are dull themselves, the world
gets the impression that a sermon IS good
in proportion as it is stupid. Christ was
the most popular preacher the world
ever saw, and, considering the small num-
ber Of the worlds population, had the
largest audiences ever gathered. He
never preached anywhere without max
ing a great sensation. People rushed out
in the wilderness to hear him. reckless Of
their physical necessities. So great was
their anxiety TO hear Christ that, taking
no food with them, they would have fam
ished and starved had not Christ per-
formed miracle and fed them.
Why did so many people take the truth
at Christ's handsi Because they all un-
derstood it, He illustrated his subject by
hen and her chickens, by a
bushel measure, by a handful Of
salt, by birds fight and by a lilys
aroma. All the people knew what he
meant and they fiockel 10 him. And
whoa the religious discourse of the fut-
ure appears it viii not be Princetonian,
not Rochesterian, not Andoverian, not
MiddletOnian, but Olivetic-plain, praC-
tical, unique, earnest. comprehensive Of
all the woes, wants, sins, sorrows and
necessities Of an auditory.
But when that exhortation or discourse
does come there will be thousand
gIeaming scimetars to charge on il.
There are in so many theological semi
uarles professors telling young men how
10 preach, themselves not knowing how,
and l am told that if a young man in some
of our theological seminaries says any
thing quaint, or thrilling, or unique,
faculty aud students fly at him and set
him right, and straighten him ont, and
smooth him down, and chop him off, until
he says every thing just as every body
else says it.
Oh, when the future religious discourse
Of the Christian Church arrives, all the
Churches of Christ in our great cities
will be througed. The world wants spir-
itual help All who have buried their
dead want comfort. All know them
selves to be mortal and to be immortal
and they want to hear about the great
future. l tell you my friends, if the peo-
pie Of our great cities who have had
trouble only thought they could get
practical and sympathetic help in the
Christian Church, there would not be
street in New York, .or Brooklyn, or Chi
cago, or Charleston, or Philadelphia, or
Boston which would be passsble on the
Sabbath dav if there were church on it;
for all the people would press to that
e r
comfort and consolation.
A ba,. h.. T.